FOUR days after he eliminated the defending Olympics champion from Uzbekistan on Aug. 3, 2021, Carlo Paalam faces Saturday, Aug. 7 the final hurdle to his golden dream.
He can do it.
His footwork has no equal. If John Travolta can dance, Carlo Paalam can foxtrot like Fred Astaire.
His right is not only razor sharp. It finds its target bull’s-eye almost always.
His left jab is like a door-stopper, which he had precisely used to transform his four previous victims from zombies into statues.
He is never the proverbial cat that when cornered shoveling for kitchen food in the dead of night, it panics and freezes into deathly surrender. No. Carlo Paalam bails out quickly, and even strikes back just as fast like a cobra uncoiling.
He did all that in the quarterfinals to Shiakhobidin Zoirov, the Rio 2016 Olympics winner, who lost to Paalam by 4-1 when he suffered a bloodied eyebrow leading to a second-round stoppage.
Paalam also did all that in the semifinals to Ryomei Tanaka, the lanky Japanese, who almost got floored with a blazing right to the face in the third and final round.
Tanaka had so thoroughly felt he was outclassed in a 5-0 defeat that he ended up warmly embracing Paalam in a sheer display of magnanimity after the fight.
Paalam hugged him back tightly. And, in a show of rare tenderness in a sport known for its brutality, Paalam sneaked a kiss to Tanaka’s forehead.
Paalam, the 23-year-old from Cagayan de Oro City, goes up against Briton Galal Yafai at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, in the biggest fight of a career carved out from garbage—literally.
While walking home one day from his usual chore of digging “gold” from the city’s dumpsite, he came upon a boxing tournament at the park.
Upon the urging of his friend, Paalam joined the fray. He won. With his P100 prize, Paalam used it to buy food (pancit guisado?) for his family long living in want.
Today, he’d be climbing the ring with his pocket already stuffed with millions (no less than P15 million) brought on by a sure silver medal.
There’s one more crucial thing favoring a gold win for Paalam.
It’s this.
Like Zoirov, Yafai, 28, who could barely eke out a 3-2 semifinal win against Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov on Aug. 5, is also a southpaw.
Tailor-fit for Paalam’s lethal right.